WCLA Elects New Officers

West Coast Lumbermen's Association has a new president, Nils B. Hult, life-long Oregon logging and sawmill operator.

The Douglas fir region trade group na.med Hult at its 52nd annual meeting in Portland March 20-2I to succeed Wil' liam R. Garnett, Tacoma. Oregon vice president of WCLA for six years, Hult heads the Hult Lumber & Plywood company at Junction City. Also elected were:

Vice president for Oregon, Marshall R' Leeper, of U. S. Plywood Corporation, Eugene; vice president for Washington (re-elected), Ben H. Gardner Jr.. of Nettle' ton Lumber Company, Seattle; vice presi' dent for California, F. M. Crawford, of F. M. Crawford Lumber, Inc., Ukiah; vice president. William Swindells, of William' ette Valley Lumber Company, Portland.

Treasurer, James H. Whitty, of Al Peirce Lumber Company, Coos Bay, Oregon; secretary, Gordon J. Browno Portland; executive vice president (re-elected), G. Cleveland Edgett, Portland.

Represents Big Softwood Ouiput

Representing a region that accounts for 30 percent of U. S. softwood output, the West Coast lumbermen devoted intensive discussion to such problems as product improvement, competition of nonwood building materialso competition of foreign lumber, grade simplification and the proposal to merge western lumber and plywood trade groups.

In accord with the sessions theme of

Timber Tax Hearings

(Continued lrom Page 4) est owned by the company."

The company has approximately 4,000 shareholders and operates primarily in the area between the Cascade Mountains and the Rockies.

"Our company furnishes a striking example of the contribution of Section 63I to the sustained yield management of private forest lands," said Hansberger. Prior to l9zM Boise Cascade Corporation was committed to the lifldation of its privatelyowned timber and timberland resources, This liquidation policy was reflected even in directors' resolutions declaring dividends."

At that time, he continued, the company had about 500 employees involved in the forest products industry. During its liquidation phase. the company made only minor capital improvements in its two greater unity, Leslie G. Everitt, of Fort Collins, Colorado, president of the National Lumber and Building Materials Dealers Association, spoke at the closing banquet on oolmproving Our Teamwork." ooVisit your customdrs," Everitt urged the producers, "and see your merchandise flow through the retail yard to the consumer. You'll find many ways to help sales for your product.

GRADE MARK NEEDCD oolumber isn't sold when you put the seal on the car door. It isn't sold until it's in place in home or building. What retailers need is materials we can merchandise with confidence. Most good dealers would definitely prefer that every piece of lumber have a grade mark on it." mills, harvested only the prime timber nearest these plants, engaged in little research and development, and even sold portions ofits company-owned timberlands. This was common practice in the industry in the Western Pine Region at that time, the witness pointed out. o'Subsequent to the adoption by Congress of Section 631 of the Internal Revenue Code, the corporation reversed its policy of liquidation, stopped the selling of company-owned timberlands, began to make substantial capital expenditures in its sawmills, inaugurated a program of sustained yield forestry applicable to its own lands, and began to purchase from the Forest Service and from others a sufficient portion of the company's timber requirements so that it could return its remaining timberlands to permanent productivity," Hansberger said.

Everitt, who is retired from long sales service with Long-Bell but is still active in family retail operations in the Southwest and in component manufacturing, advocated well-planned courses as a means of increasing confidence of yard salesmen. Lumber's competitors are making it easy to sell, and wood product manufacturers must do the same, he said.

He predicted that 1963 would see a rise in sales to $10.6 billions for building ma. terial dealers, and pointed out that the home improvement market may reach $15 billion this year.

G. Cleveland Edgett, executive vice president for WCLA, called for unity in the lumber industry.

Today, the company executive noted, Boise Cascade has expanded employment

He remarked that, ooThe fight to liberalize building codes has just begun. Standardizing our grades and sizes will be an important step, and we are helping to work out a fair compromise, so that all segments of the industry will have an equal chance.

Cooperaiion Needed

Calling for closer efforts by lumber and plywood groups, Edgett noted, o'The salvation of the wood industry may well be to look jointly to its mutual problems and to resolve those areas in which we are competitive.

Outgoing President Garnett warned the Iumbermen that t'we cannot allow ourselves to be lulled into thinking that a restriction of imports will solve all of our present problems. We must continue to improve our products, and make them easier to specify."

Progress has been made, he said, toward acc€ptance ofll1inch dry dimension. Following interim approval by FHA, many mills have received orders for the new size lumber, and have asked for special stamps from the W'est Coast Lumber Inspection Bureau.

Solution is nearer for the dispute over equivalent green sizes in dimension lumber, and when the sizes are determined it will require more strict mill inspection by the Bureau, such as behind the planer checking of sizes and moisture content, but this will add more prestige to our grade marks, Garnett said.

in the forest products industry to 5,400 jobs. It is significant, he said, that of the company's 35 forest products factories now in operation, 17 oI them are located in communities where Boise Cascade is the principal employer.

"Today we operate our timberlands on a sustained yield basis, in spite of the extremely long growth cycle of timber in our area," said Hansberger. "ln 1962, approximately 30 per cent of our total requirements of timber came from our own lands Without the effect of Section 63I, it is mv opinion that Boise Cascade would not be engaged in the forest products industry today."

He said if the proposal of the Treasury Department is implemented, "our corporation would have no choice in its economic struggle in the extremely competitive forest products industry but to return, at least in part, to the practices of the l94O's."